


SupERERInatural

by Evil_Panda_Roar



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Angst and Feels, Denial of Feelings, M/M, Paranormal, tiny bits of fluff
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-07
Updated: 2018-03-25
Packaged: 2019-03-01 19:58:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 7
Words: 10,483
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13302114
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Evil_Panda_Roar/pseuds/Evil_Panda_Roar
Summary: Levi and Hanji are hunters, and they have been long enough to know what to do. Everything is fine for them until one job leaves them stuck with a boy named Eren. He's quite bright most of the time, but doesn't know a thing about supernatural beings and creatures he's going to be having to deal with now that he's a hunter as well.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Well everyone! This is one of my first fanfictions. It was started about the time I started Falling in Love in the Apocalypse, or in the middle of zombereri. I recently finished it (haven't looked it over, so there will be quiet a few mistakes) and felt that I might as well post it here.

(Levi's POV)

We've been on a hunt for over a week now, but we still don't have any leads. People have been getting attacked out in the Comanche National Grasslands, and a few of them never turned up. Hanji and I have a few speculation on what could be happening, but nothing solid enough to merit marching into the desert.

“Levi? Are you spacing out again? That isn't a good habit to have in our line of business.” My annoying partner Hanji whined. Even though I hated being around her; I still knew that without her I probably wouldn't be around. 

“Did you learn anything new?” I asked her, ignoring what she just said. 

“Nope. Maybe we should just go out there and prepare for everything we can.” Hanji suggested. Has she completely lost her mind? 

“You know we can't just rush into things without an idea of what we are going to be up against.” 

“But we do have a few ideas on what it is. We can just go by that and get this over with. I'm sick of this place.” 

“Not until we get more clues.” I was not going to let her boredom get us killed. 

“Levi, please. I'm begging you!” 

“Just get back to work.” I told her, hoping to end this pointless conversation. 

“Just think about all the people who are being put into danger because we aren't doing anything Levi.” Damn it. She knew that would get my attention. The only reason I keep on doing this is to save people; not for the glory, but to know that I have saved someone's life. 

I let out a groan before looking to her. Hanji's glasses had almost completely fallen off of her face and she looked as exhausted as I felt. “What have we narrowed it down to?” 

“Okay so far we have narrowed it down to either being a werewolf or a windigo. Whatever it is, it likes tearing apart it's victims because a lot of them only pieces were found.” Yet she still wants to rush into things. We could end up found in pieces if we mess up. Especially if we are going up against a windigo. 

“Well we better start packing.” I said and closed the book I was reading.

(Eren’s POV)

“I can’t believe you two dragged me into this.” Tonight we are going to be staying in a hotel, but for the next week we are going to be camping and hiking through some Comanche grassland place. 

“Eren, just think, this is better than summer school.” Mikasa told me.

“I beg to differ, we could be attacked by coyotes or bears!” I pointed out to my unconvinced friends.

“Eren, coyotes are scavengers and don’t like fighting other animals unless they are threatening them and the only type of bear found in Colorado is the black bear, but it still would be rare to even see a black bear where we are going. It’s mainly going to be desert, and that’s not the best habitat for a bear like that.” Armin started speaking with his abundant knowledge basically making any of my arguments invalid, but thankfully I had done my research. 

“Even so there have been a lot of people going missing while camping there.” I showed them the papers I had printed off just for this. 

“Eren, hikers go missing all of the time, and most of the time they just get lost. We are going to be staying on the trails though so there is no chance of us getting lost.” Armin refuted. I could tell that no matter how much arguing we did my friends were not going to change their minds. We were already just a few miles away anyways so I guess it was a little late for me to try and convince them otherwise.

“We should get some sleep, we are going to be doing a lot of hiking tomorrow.” Mikasa said. It was almost midnight so all of us were a little tired already. I just hope that this trip will be better than what I think it will.

“Goodnight Eren, don’t let the spiders bite.” Armin said just before we all fell asleep. Mikasa started laughing and I threw a pillow at both of them. They know I am scared of spiders. Now that I don’t have any pillows it’s going to be hard to sleep. 

“I hate you guys.” I said half heartedly. They’re cruel but they are still my best friends.

“You know you love us.” Mikasa sassed.

“Everyone shut up and go to sleep!” Armin yelled; causing us all to burst out laughing. Slowly, we all started falling asleep.


	2. Chapter 2

(Levi’s POV) 

We woke up early and packed our supplies, guns with silver bullets, flare guns, an assortment of lighters, and knives. Other than that we just packed the normal things salt, holy water, and our notebooks; in case we ran into anything we hadn’t prepared for. Somehow we were able to pack everything into just two hiking packs. Our plan was to blend in as hikers until we are out of people's way; then the hunting began. Once we were all packed and ready to go we got in my 1969 Ford Mustang and took off for Comanche National Grassland. 

“I hope you two sweethearts have a good time, and don’t go wandering off the path. We have been having a lot of people turn up missing on our hiking trails.” The lady that let us into the park said. I was almost about to bitch her out on her stupid idea that Hanji and I were together. Why the hell does everyone think that? I don’t even like chicks. Another thing that annoyed me was that people don’t “turn up missing”. If they are missing then they never turn up; that’s the whole problem! Hanji stopped me from saying anything that would get us in trouble though.

“Thank you, and we have heard of the missing people. Could you tell us where most of them have been seen last? So we know to avoid that place.” She added.

“A lot of them were camping at the Vogel Canyon area. A lot of there stuff was also destroyed; some people are saying that it could be bear attacks, so be extra careful.” The lady told us before we started heading off to Vogel Canyon. 

When we got there it was almost completely empty. I guess a lot of people have heard of people going missing here, but there still was a small group of tents towards the outside of the camping grounds. Every once in awhile I would see some people rush in and out of the tents, but not long enough for me to get a good look at who it could be. Instead of staring at the tents until I saw someone I started helping four eyes put up our tent. Even though Hanji snored worse than anyone else I knew; having someone constantly being able to watch your back is more important to me than dear sleep, I guess. 

“Hey, seems like you are the only ones dumb enough to go camping here too.” A man from behind me said. I turned to see a tall brown haired boy. Great, high schoolers, this just got worse. I started rubbing my head realizing that my job just got worse.

“What made you camp here then?” I asked, hoping that if I ask the right questions he may leave.

“My friends.” He groaned. I felt a small pang of happiness from what he just told me; seems like I am not the only one getting dragged here.

“Do you and your friends know about the people who have been going missing here?” 

“Yeah, of course we know, but they still insisted of going.” He seemed to have realized something before he added. “My name’s Eren, sorry for the horrible introduction. I just started complaining; not even telling you my name first.” He let out a soft embarrassed laugh before holding out his hand for a handshake. 

“I’m Levi.” I took his hand and shook it. 

“Hey Eren! Don’t think you can get out of helping us set up because you are talking to strangers!” A girl with dark hair called from outside one of their tents. 

“Oh, well talk to you later.” He said before leaving.

“Oooo Levi, he was flirting with you.” My crazy partner said. She wasn’t wearing her glasses and I was actually surprised she hadn’t run into anything yet.

“What the hell are you talking about? We were just talking. How do you jump to a conclusion like that when you can’t even see where you are going without your glasses?” I joked. 

“I don’t need eyes to see what was going on between you two.” Here she goes again. She does this every time I talk to an attractive guy. Just because I am into guys doesn’t mean I want to fuck every guy that talks to me. 

“Whatever you think you ‘saw’ was made up in your head.” I told her and went to check that we have everything we need. I just hope we can get this over with tonight. I had just brought out my favorite handgun to check that it was loaded when someone ran into the tent. I could tell it wasn’t Hanji before it was opened and had just enough time to hide the gun behind my back. Not letting go of it in case I needed it.

“Hey Levi, do you want to go hiking with me and my friends? Your girlfriend already said she would go.” It was Eren. Fuck, I really hope she didn’t tell them we are together like that. Last time she pulled a stunt like that I ended up having to kiss her, and it was the worse experience of my life.

“She’s not my girlfriend.” I shot back; startling Eren. “And I guess, I don’t have anything better to do.” I started putting the gun in the back of my pants so I could leave, but it seemed as though Eren had noticed I was doing something behind my back.

“I’m sorry, I just assumed that you two were together since you are camping here together. What are you doing though?” He asked me. I couldn’t think of anything I would actually be willing to tell Eren, so I just decided to ignore his question.

“Where are we going?” I quickly asked.

“Well we were just going to do some small hiking around here for today since it is going to get dark soon. What were you doing behind your back?” He inquired again. Why won’t he just shut up and get out of here?

“Nothing of importance.” I told him, but it seemed as though he wasn’t about to back down. I wonder if he would freak out if I just show him the gun. Worse case scenario he goes and tells a park ranger about it and I get kicked out; or thrown in jail, but I have made it out of those many times before. Deciding that it would just be best to show him the gun to keep him quiet, and maybe that would make him stop being so nosy as well. I slowly pulled out the gun and showed him it.

“Why the hell do you have that?” He asked a little loudly. I pulled him into the tent to keep others from hearing him.

“I’m here to get rid of the thing that has been killing people out here.” I calmly replied. 

“They all have been reported missing; not dead though!”

“It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know that they aren’t alive. Most of their stuff was destroyed and torn up; they probably ended up the same way.” I said evenly. Eren seemed afraid at first, but calmed down surprisingly quickly. It didn’t take long for what I just said to get another response from him.

“So do you work for the park or something? I never heard of their stuff being destroyed though. All the news articles I read said people were going missing.”

“No, I don’t think they are doing much about the ‘missing’ people. Most of the public reports say that because they don’t know what is doing it and don’t want people to freak out.” 

“But how do I know you aren’t going to shoot me?” He continued to ask me stupid questions. Maybe this was a bad idea.

“You know, if you keep on asking me stupid questions I just might.” The threat was hollow, but it was enough to get him to quiet down. He left the tent a little shaken, but I truly didn’t care. I then joined everyone outside and we started walking down one of the paths. Eren keeping as much distance from me as he could.

“What did you do?” Hanji whispered to me. She was looking between me and Eren. 

“Why the hell did you let him enter the tent without warning me? I ended up stuck explaining why I have a gun.”

“LEVI! I thought you were done with the guns, if I would have known that I would never have let him enter the tent.” Hanji then looked sad. Normally it was impossible to make her sad, but she seriously looked hurt. “I had such high hopes for the two of you.” I can’t believe it; that’s why she’s sad!

“Nothing was going to happen anyways. Chances are he isn’t even legal.” I added to attempt to cheer her up. or at least make her stop frowning. It was making me uncomfortable.

“Hey Eren! How old are you?” She shouted.

“Huh? I’m seventeen, why?” 

“Because Levi wants to ask you out!”

“The hell Hanji!” I managed to keep my voice quiet, but I was about to yell at her. I am fine with her teasing every once in awhile, but that was way too far; even for her. After glaring at Hanji I turned my head to say sorry to Eren; his face was completely red, and I am pretty sure that I was getting a death glare from the dark haired girl. 

“Sorry about the idiot. She doesn’t know what she is talking about.” I said loud enough for all of them to hear.

“D-don't worry about it.” Eren responded quietly. His face was still a bright red. 

The rest of the hike there was small talk, and not a lot more than that. Hanji and I kept looking for clues. Unfortunately we didn’t find anything that looked like something either a windigo or werewolf would leave behind. However, we did find a strangely colored feather. Hanji bagged it and took it back to the tent to compare it to feathers of birds in this area.

While Hanji was inspecting the feather she found I was sitting outside of the tent making sure that nothing was attacking Eren and his friends. During the hike I learned the name of his friends. The dark haired girl that glared at me every once in awhile was named Mikasa, and the blonde boy that followed them around like a lost puppy was named Armin. Since there was nothing to do outside other than freeze my ass off and think, I started sharpening my knives. 

“You have knives too?” The voice came from right in front of me, but I knew that he was making his way over here since he opened his tent so I wasn’t surprised at all.

“Yep.” Eren then took a seat next to me. 

“So why do you have so many weapons? It seems like you are prepared for a full on attack, but I don’t understand why. What’s out here that is so dangerous?”

“Well a lot of these are just for collection, and since I don’t trust that they won’t get stolen I keep them with me at all times. I think that whatever is out here is just a group of mountain lions. Nothing too serious.” I lied to him because I really didn’t want to deal with the ‘you are crazy’ talk right now. 

“Well that still sounds serious to me.” He said. We sat in an uncomfortable silence for awhile until Eren started talking again. “So um, why did Hanji say that before? when we were walking.” He added in case I didn’t remember what he was talking about. 

“She’s just 101 different kinds of crazy.”

“Oh okay.” Eren seemed to be disappointed with my response. Don’t tell me this brat actually thought that what Hanji said was true. I decided it would be best to change the subject as soon as possible. 

“How long do you and your friends plan on staying here?”

“About a-” Eren was cut off by a piercing cry. It definitely didn’t sound like any animal I had ever heard before. I quickly reached for my gun as Hanji jumped out of the tent with her own gun in hand. “What was that?” Eren asked shakily.

“I don’t know. What about you?” I asked Hanji. She was more of the expert on identification; I was the expert of elimination. 

“I have no idea. I can’t wait to see what made that noise.” She was almost jumping up and down on the spot. Before long another horrible cry sounded from above us. We looked up to see some huge bird flying above us, but it was apparent that it wasn’t just any ordinary bird. It swooped down swiftly and hit its target. 

“ARMIN!” Eren’s friend had ran out of the tent at the sound of the bird, and now was being carried away by it. All the time I wasn’t able to get a good look at it because of the darkness. Quickly before it could rise to high into the sky I aimed and was about to take a shot when Eren grabbed my gun and pointed it to the ground. “Don’t shoot! You could hit Armin.” Seriously, does this brat think I am an idiot? 

“I wouldn’t have aimed if I thought there was a chance I would have hit your friend, but now it is too late.” I pointed at the now distant shape of the bird.


	3. Chapter 3

(Levi’s POV)

The past hour Eren has been freaking out while Hanji and I started packing; getting ready to go after whatever took Armin. So far, all we could go on is that it flies and is big enough to carry away a small human. 

“How can you two be so calm when my friend could be dead?!?!” Eren screamed at us. Even though this wasn’t the first time that something like that has happened to us; I was still mad that Eren couldn’t realize that we were trying to save his friend. 

“Eren, either sit down and shut the fuck up or help us pack. We are getting ready to go get your friend.” Eren let out an audible growl but still walked over to where we were working. 

“What should I do?” Mikasa followed him over to us and looked like she was ready to help too. 

“Mikasa, did you get a good look at the thing that took you friend?” She nodded her head in response so I held out Hanji’s notebook to her. “Look through this and tell us if you see anything the resembles the thing you saw.” Next I looked over to Eren and thought about what he could do. Nothing came to mind so I told him to help me pack. I didn’t need help, but just needed to get him to do something to get him to shut up.

“I think I found it.” Mikasa said just when I was packing the last of the supplies we would need. 

“Let me see!” Hanji ran over to her. “Huh, that makes so much sense now, but the last time someone saw one of those was during the twelfth century.” 

“What is it?” I asked her.

“It seems as though we are going after a dragon. To be specific a cockatrice; it’s a dragon with a rooster’s head and two legs. Which would explain the feather.” Hanji stated happily. I don’t know why she was happy though; we have never fought a dragon before which made saving Eren’s friend all the harder.

“Okay, so how are we going to kill this thing and get Armin back?” Eren walked in front of me and asked Hanji. What the hell is this brat thinking? He isn’t going with us. They would just get in the way. 

“Eren don’t worry about that. We are going to get back your friend.” Eren turned while I started talking and glared at me. I returned the glare; which turned the glaring into a staring contest. There is no way in hell that I am letting him come along with us.

“Levi, come on. He just wants to help save his friend.” Hanji pouted. Why does she always have to get on my nerves? 

“Hanji, didn’t you make a contradicting promise to me before?” A few years ago a job went bad and people got killed, and Hanji promised she would never allow civilians to get involved again. It seems she has forgotten about that promise though.

“Please Levi! It would be harder to convince them not to come with us.” Deciding that it would not be worth the trouble; I chose to allow Eren and Mikasa to come, but I made it very clear that they could get killed. 

“Well we should wait until morning to start the search. Hanji we need to discuss a few things.” She followed me into our tent. “Tell me all you know about those things.” I demanded before she even sat down. We need to know how to take care of this thing and have a plan if we are going to be taking those two with us.

“Well a cockatrice can kill you just by looking at you; some stories said that it could kill you by breathing on you also, I don’t believe that though but it’s just something to be leery about. To fix that we are going to be wearing sunglasses. I think that this is going to be an easy job though; we just need it to look into a mirror. It can kill someone else with its gaze, but it can also kill itself.” Hanji finished her rant and I started thinking about all of the things that could go wrong and coming up with plans on how to not let those situations happen.

“What do you think the chances of their friend being alive are?” I asked that last question, and I didn’t get a response. That means it isn’t going to be likely we are going to find him alive or hopefully she just doesn’t know.

~ ~ ~ 

Early in the morning we were awoken by someone entering our tent. On instinct I grabbed my hunting knife I kept with me all of the time and tackled the person who entered our tent; holding the knife to their throat. It was still dark out so I couldn’t see who it was right away.

“Levi, it’s Eren!” Stupid brat. It’ll be a miracle if he survives this. I removed my knife from his neck and slowly got off of him. Frustration filling every part of my mind. I hate teenagers, and now I am stuck with two of them for probably one of the hardest jobs I will ever go on. “Is that how you say good morning?” Eren asks, hopelessly trying to get rid of the tension hanging in the air.

“You really shouldn’t enter someone’s tent without warning them first.” I said checking to make sure I didn’t get any blood on my knife. It’s one of my favorites, so it would be a shame to get blood all over it for nothing. 

“Are we going to be leaving soon?” He asked eagerly. 

“No, it’s still dark out. Now would be a bad time; we wouldn’t be able to find anything to lead us to where your friend is.” I told him.

“But I can’t sleep, and I am running out of things to do.” He whined, making me wince. I already have one person that whines to me; I definitely don’t need another. 

“Well since it’s still dark out, why don’t you find the Orion constellation?” I offered, hoping that it would give him something to do.

“What’s that?” I stared at him blankly for a few seconds before responding.

“You’re a city kid aren’t you?” 

“”Yah, what about it?” I groaned; realizing I had no hope of going to sleep anytime tonight. Groggily, I got up and lead him outside.

“So you never would go outside at night and look for constellations while you were younger?” I asked him.

“No, I usually never looked at the stars. They don’t interest me.” Deciding it’d be best to not comment on his opinion I laid down onto my back and patted the ground next to me, motioning for him to lay down next to me. Eren did lay down next to me, but it was a little too close for my comfort. Our arms were rubbing against each other, and I kept on getting the urge to move away but didn’t.

“It’s been a long time since I have done this.” I said, mainly to myself. It has been a long time, and I actually missed it. “The easiest way to find Orion is by finding Orion’s belt first.” I reminded myself. I started searching the sky until I found the familiar figure in the sky. “There it is.” I used my hand to point towards where the constellation was.

“I can’t see it.” Eren complained. I sighed before explaining to him what to be looking for.

“Okay, like I said; look for Orion’s belt. Which is three stars in an almost straight line.” I pointed towards it again. 

“Oh I see that now, but what makes up Orion… Wait I think I see it now.” Eren’s voice started getting higher with excitement. I held back a chuckle and asked him what he saw; making sure he was actually seeing the constellation and not making up his own.

We were finding constellations in the sky until we couldn’t see the stars anymore. I was exhausted and knew that wasn’t the best condition to be in with what we had planned to do today, but Eren seemed to be happy. We laid on the ground in silence for a few seconds, and Eren was about to say something when Hanji jumped out of the tent. 

“Levi! Oh, you’re right there. You really should tell me when you are leaving the tent. Wait, awww you two were bonding. When are you going to start fucking?” 

“W-what?!?!” Eren asked red faced. Over reacting to what Hanji just said. It was just a joke and I had gotten used to it so I guess it wasn’t a surprise that I didn’t freak out. 

“Are you ready to go?” I asked getting up calmly. Trying my best to ignore her comment. 

“Of course, I was ready hours ago.” Hanji said and walked over to the tent Mikasa was sleeping in to wake her up. I started moving to grab my bag when a hand grabbed my arm stopping me from moving.

“Do you really think we will get to Armin in time?” Eren asked me.

“I don’t know for sure, all we can do is get to him as soon as possible and hope for the best.” I told him and walked away. Not wanting to look at his sad face anymore. 

(Eren’s POV) 

I was scared. Wait, maybe terrified would be a better word to describe how I am feeling right now. Hanji made Mikasa and I put on sunglasses and told us not to look at the thing we are going after in the eyes because that could kill us. Just thinking about that made me feel like finding Armin would be hopeless; even if we do find him, he probably won’t be alive. I followed Levi and Hanji anyways. I wanted to see what happened my self. 

“Eren, where are you going? Don’t get lost.” Levi ordered me. I really wanted to like Levi; I mean he is really attractive, but he is so cold to me. However, when we were stargazing together he was a lot nicer to me. Too bad he wasn’t always like that. I joined back up with the group. Even though I had no idea where we are going or how they knew where to go I followed them.

“Oh Levi! I think I found something.” Hanji called from on the other side of a small hill. How come she can wander off but I can’t? I really think Levi just hates me. Everyone started walking over to where Hanji was standing. An entrance to a cave; it seemed to go straight down, and a feather was stuck on the side of it. “Let’s check it out!” Hanji shouted as she started trying to climb her way down the hole in the ground. Levi followed her down, sighing. Mikasa followed him, and I followed her.


	4. Chapter 4

(Eren’s POV)

“I can’t see anything down here with my sunglasses on. Why do we have to wear these again? How are they supposed to protect us?” I started looking to Hanji for answers. Levi was moving around somewhere out of my field of vision.

“Well these aren’t really supposed to protect you. If you make eye contact with the cockatrice you will die, but sunglasses are also reflective so if you do have eye contact with the cockatrice then hopefully the cockatrice will also die. That’s the hope at least.” Hanji said; not making me feel any better about this. I am here to save Armin though, and I plan on doing just that. If it’s even possible.

“Hey Eren.” Levi called from my left.

“What is it?” I asked as I turned to him. Just as I was responding a bright flash of light illuminated the cave, and blinded me. Levi had found his flashlight. Even though I couldn’t see his face I could picture his smirk. “Very funny!” I shouted at Levi. 

“Hmm I thought so too.” He mocked me. I quickly grabbed my own flashlight and turned it on facing Levi; hoping that he would get a flash of light right in his eyes too. When I turned it on I saw something big move behind Levi down a different tunnel. 

 

“Levi something just pasted behind you.” Hanji and I said in unison. I expected him to turn around instantly like a normal person would, but he looked towards Hanji and waited for her nod to turn around. Once he turned around and was sure that there was nothing to worry about we started heading down the tunnels; in the direction the figure went. 

“Mikasa, Eren if you see something moving tell us, and don’t look at it directly.” Hanji instructed us. We walked a little farther until we reached a large opening that lead into a small chamber that had another opening to the surface in the middle. Levi was in the lead and looked around making sure it was safe to enter the wide space. 

“All clear, but you two.” He pointed to me and Mikasa. “You might not like what you’re going to see.” He then entered the room. Mikasa and I shared a nervous look before we followed. What could he have been talking about? The first thing I did when I got into the open space was look around the area. My gaze stopped when I found something along the wall. It looked like a statue of a small person; in fact it looked a lot like Armin. I got closer and found the statue to be almost a complete copy of my friend. 

“I’m so sorry. We were too late.” Hanji said softly. 

“W-what happened?” Mikasa asked while approaching our friend.

“That’s what happens when you make eye contact with the cockatrice. I wouldn’t be too surprised if we saw more people like your friend in these tunnels.” Levi responded while checking other passageways that lead away from the chamber we are in.

I started walking over to where Armin was. He was completely turned to stone. My vision started getting blurry with the forming of tears. His hand was outstretched in front of him as if he was trying to use it to protect himself from something, and his eyes were wide with fear. If only they had told us about this before. If only he knew not to look at it! Why hadn’t they told us this before? I could feel rage building up within me. My friend could have been saved if they only told us that one bit of information.

“Why the hell hadn’t you told us before not to look at this thing?” I shouted to the two who seemed to be off doing their own things. Ignoring the fact that my best friend had just died.

“See what I meant by we shouldn’t have brought them.” Levi said to Hanji. He let out a sigh and looked at me. “First of all we didn’t know what we were dealing with when we got here-”

“So you just go into things without knowing what you are dealing with?” 

“You can thank Hanji for that, and secondly, it was probably best for your friend to have died that way. Even if he didn’t make eye contact with that thing he probably would have became its dinner.” Levi said as though Armin’s death didn’t matter. 

“How can you be so heartless?” Tears were now running down my cheeks but I wasn’t going to let them fall freely yet. We still have to worry about that thing returning.

“This isn’t the first time I saw a dead body.” 

“But this is my friend.”

“Everyone is someone’s friend, brother, sister, father, or mother. Everyone has relations with other people, but we are trying to stop other people from having the same fate as your friend.” What Levi said made me stop for a second. He had probably heard this many times before from different people. How many dead bodies has he seen? How many people had he seen die? Those thoughts just added to my sadness. This world really is cruel. 

“Woo, there’s definitely something down this tunnel!” Hanji exclaimed. She was using her shirt sleeve to cover her nose. She started walking down the tunnel; not waiting for any of us. Levi followed her, and Mikasa started following them. I didn’t move though. How could I? I can’t leave Armin here.

“Eren, we have to follow them. Maybe we can help them kill the thing that did that to Armin.” Mikasa had obviously been crying too, but still followed them. Even though I hated myself for leaving him there, I followed too. 

As we got farther and farther down the passageway the rotting smell got worse and worse. It smelled as though something had died and been left out in the sun for a few days. Light started illuminating the passageway; there must be another chamber up ahead. The smell never faltering. 

“Ah shit. Watch your step.” Levi said as he entered the next chamber. 

“Wow look at all of the different types of remains! Looks like there are some coyote bones, some mountain lion, and some human.” Hanji stopped talking when her flashlight showed a ripped up hiking bag. Mikasa and I just made it into the chamber when Levi started shooting. 

“Well I don’t know if this is a good thing or a bad thing, but that thing is in here with us. Let’s try and lead it out into the open; it won’t be able to sneak up on us like that.” Levi was talking to Hanji. “You two, follow us and keep a lookout.” Mikasa followed after Hanji and I followed Levi. Levi didn’t take any time on finding a way out of the tunnels. We found another opening we could use to climb out of. “Start climbing.” He ordered me, and instead of arguing with him about telling me what to do I listened and started climbing. Before I had made it all of the way up I heard some commotion come from down in the tunnel. I started climbing faster. Once I got out I looked down to see if I could find Levi, but I didn’t see him.

“Levi? Are you okay?” I timidly shouted into the hole in the ground. After I didn’t get a response I started looking at my surroundings. I was encircled by hills and couldn’t see far away, so finding Hanji and Mikasa would be impossible here. Where is Levi? Shouldn’t I be able to see him? “Le-.” I stopped speaking when I saw a flash and heard a gunshot. Before I completely knew what I was doing I started climbing down into the tunnels again. 

“Eren stop. I need you to get out of here and find another opening to the west of this one. Hanji and Mikasa should be there.” Levi told me. There was urgency in his voice. I quickly climbed out again, but once I got out I didn’t know what to do. How am I supposed to know which way is west? It didn’t take me long to remember something; the sun sets to the west. Knowing that is was after noon I looked at the position of the sun and started following that. Hopefully I am going the right direction. Once I made it to the top of the hill I noticed a large object shoot into the sky. That must be the cockatrice, but that is where Levi told me Mikasa would be. I started running in that direction. It didn’t take me long to get to the spot and find Mikasa. 

“Mikasa what happened?” I asked her.

“We were almost out of there when the cockatrice showed up. Hanji is chasing it around trying to shoot its wing so it can’t fly. I think we should wait here.” Mikasa seemed startled. Which was a change of her normally calm composer.  
“Did you see Levi?” I asked; hoping that he made it over here already. Where is Hanji and the cockatrice though?

“I haven’t seen him. Shouldn’t he be with you?” I was about to respond when a loud screech came from above us, and was followed by Hanji yelling at us.

“Get out of the way, and don’t look at it directly!” I grabbed Mikasa’s hand and started pulling her towards a small grouping of trees; while keeping the cockatrice in my peripheral vision. It was getting closer but Hanji was shooting at it; trying to get its attention. However it didn’t seem to be working; it kept coming for us. I had reached the first tree when the cockatrice reached us. Why isn’t it going after Hanji? She’s the one shooting at it. 

“Eren, close your eyes!” A man yelled. Levi! He finally made it. Forgetting about the cockatrice for a moment I turned around just in time to see it swipe Mikasa. Cutting her with its claws and splattering blood everywhere. I stared at the sight in horror. Not Mikasa too. I was still staring at Mikasa’s tattered body when a clawed foot pressed me against the tree. Quickly I closed my eyes as Levi had told me. The claws started digging into me, and I was terrified. Please, just kill me. All of my friends are already dead. I looked up facing the breath of the beast, and opened my eyes. “Eren! Keep your eyes closed!” Levi shouted, but I ignored him. I opened my eyes and got my first good look at the cockatrice. Its head was that of a sick chicken, but I could see that the eyes had already become stone. It’s turning to stone! A pang of happiness started to fill me, but the process of it turning to stone was slow and before its body could become stone its clawed foot kicked into me. Sending the claws into my chest; making me scream out in pain. For a while all I could feel was the pain. 

“Eren, are you okay?” Someone said to me, but I couldn’t reply.

“Hanji step back.” Another voice said. A few loud bangs sounded, and then everything went black.


	5. Chapter 5

(Levi’s POV)  
Damn brat, was he trying to get himself killed back there? We got the cockatrice foot off of him, but the wounds on his chest were deep. Hanji used some things from her bag to try and slow down the bleeding so he hopefully would make it back to the camping grounds; where Hanji would be able to stitch him up. I was stuck with the task of carrying him, but thankfully Hanji took my bag so I didn’t have to worry about that. 

“I can’t believe Eren actually opened his eyes. If his sunglasses hadn’t started turning the cockatrice to stone he would be a statue right now.” Hanji exclaimed. We were close to the camp ground already.

“I think that was his idea.” I responded. Hanji gave me a quizzical look before running ahead of me to get everything ready. “Brat, I don’t think I have ever met someone as stupid and reckless as you before.” I said to an unconscious Eren. 

When I made it to the tent I put Eren inside and let Hanji stitch him up; while I waited outside. The wait seemed to take forever, but Hanji finally exited the tent.

“I think you should take him to a hospital. We can drop him off and get out of here. I’ll start packing everything up.” She suggested. I nodded and walked into the tent and picked up Eren again. I put him in the passenger seat, and started heading towards the closest hospital. When I got to the hospital I carried Eren into the emergency room entrance and went to the desk.

“I found him at the Comanche National Grassland, I think he was attacked by something. He was bleeding really bad when I found him.”

“What? That’s almost an hour away.” The woman behind the desk said as she notified the doctors there was an emergency.

“A friend of mine is a doctor and did a small amount of stitching to slow his bleeding, so we would be able to make it here.” Just as I finished explaining; a few nurses rushed in and started leading me to the room where I could lay Eren down on a bed. After that I was lead out of the area and back into the waiting room I had entered into a few minutes before.

“Sir, could you explain to me what happened?” A nurse asked me.

“I found him unconscious just off the side of a trail. Once I noticed he was bleeding I took him back to where I was camping with my friend; where she gave him a few stitches so he would make it to the hospital. Then I drove him here.” I just hope that Eren doesn’t say something else when he wakes up.

“Could you fill this out for us? It’s just getting a statement down on paper of what happened.” The nurse said handing me a paper with a clipboard and a pen. This wasn’t the first time I had to fill out one of these, and the only hard part was picking out a fake name to use. I just hope that the brat knows better than trying to tell the truth. All it would do is end him up in the psych ward. Hanji is probably destroying the cockatrice statue right now. 

After I finished filling out the form I handed it to the person behind the desk and left. It didn’t take me long to get back and find Hanji already packed up and ready to go. I started feeling guilt wash over me, but why would I be feeling guilty? I saved that kid’s life, and many others by killing that cockatrice, but something still doesn’t feel right.

“What’s wrong Levi?” Hanji asked as she got into the passenger seat. I turned to look at her and noticed the seat she was sitting in was covered in blood. Damn it! I love this car.   
“The only thing wrong is your seat.” I told her. She looked around towards the seat and noticed the blood.

“Let’s make a deal, if I clean this seat will you tell me what is wrong?” Hanji looked at me raising an eyebrow. 

“Sure, but if you miss a spot I am keeping my mouth shut.” Even though I didn’t plan on telling her anything I let her have her fun. Knowing her though she will get me to talk eventually; she always does. The best thing I can do is get her occupied until I can come up with a believable lie.

“Okay Levi, I’m done cleaning. Now you must tell me what it is that is bothering you?” Hanji stated happily. A voice in the back of my head started telling me to tell her the truth.   
“Do you really think we should just leave Eren? Maybe we should-” I said before I was able to close my mouth.

“‘Maybe we should’ what?” Hanji asked.

“Maybe we should wait until Eren wakes up and make sure he really is okay.” I let out with a sigh. It felt weird for me to care about someone so much. Normally Hanji and I made sure to get out of there before the aftershock hit, but I couldn’t leave Eren with all that had happened to him. Even when I had done it many times before.

“LEVI!!!” Hanji screamed in excitement. I looked away and covered my face. Why do I keep her around? I asked myself; not really considering the question. “We better head back to the hospital right away then.” Hanji said buckling up. 

~ ~ ~

“Well how’s the brat doing?” I asked my partner as she entered the car that was parked across from the hospital.

“He’s doing fine, but I don’t understand why we can’t just go in there and see him. I was really hoping to see him when he wakes up.” She said sadly. I started driving back to the hotel; not really paying attention to what she was saying. It’s good to know that he’s okay.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about all of the time skips and POV changes in this chapter.

(Eren’s POV)

I woke up to a beeping sound. I’m in a hospital? What happened after I blacked out? I tried to sit up to get a better look at my surroundings, but stopped when a flash of pain came from my chest. 

“Eren!” I turned my head to see my mom sitting on a chair that was pulled next to my bed. 

“H-” My throat was dry so I couldn’t talk. 

“I thought you would need some water when you woke up.” My mother said with a forced smile; while handing me a cup. I took a few small sips before trying to talk again. 

“Hey…” I stopped talking. What am I supposed to tell her? I definitely can’t start talking about a dragon killing my friends. Does she even know what happened to them? Tears started streaming down my face, and once I started crying my mom did too. She must know that my friends are dead. At least I don’t have to explain that to her.

“Eren, what happened?” My mother asked in between sobs. 

“I-I’m not sure.” I lied. It hurt me to lie to her, but I could never tell her the truth. A knocking at the door caught both of our attention.

“Sorry to interrupt; I just need to give Eren his medicine.” A nurse with brown hair said. He walked over to me and began messing with my IV. 

“Am I going to be able to leave soon?” I asked the nurse before he left.

“If everything goes well you should be able to leave tomorrow.” He said with a smile and left. 

~ ~ ~ 

“Eren, I feel horrible to not be here with you tonight.” My mom said sadly.

“It’s fine. I’m at a hospital; nothing bad can happen to me here.” I comforted her. My mother wasn’t allowed to spend the night at the hospital, and was going to be staying in the closest hotel, but she kept on refusing to leave even though she had already payed for the room.

“Okay, but if anything happens the hospital is going to call me right away and I will be here in a heartbeat.” 

“Okay mom.” I said with a smile of how protective my mother was being. Nothing bad can happen to me here, so her worrying is wasted.

~ ~ ~

(Levi’s POV)

It’s the middle of the night and I still can’t fall asleep. Something has been nagging at me all day and I can’t ignore it anymore. Slowly, I got up and silently made my way out of the hotel room. 

I parked the car outside of a familiar building. ‘Should I really be doing this?’ I asked myself before exiting the vehicle and walking to the building. My plan is to get in and out without being seen or at least acknowledged, but I am prepared if I am spotted. I tried a few doors before I found one that would open. Even though I wasn’t exactly sure where I should be going I kept walking like I knew exactly what I was doing. Finally I found the hallways of rooms I was looking for. There were a few nurses walking around, but none of them noticed me.

“Levi?” I froze in place. The voice had come from the room to my left. I turned my head and saw Eren in the bed in the middle of the room. Good to know he is okay. I swiftly turned my head and kept on walking. “Wait! Levi, what are you doing here?” There was shuffling coming from the room. He was trying to follow me; I’m going to have to speed things up now. Why couldn’t he have been sleeping? I mean it’s the middle of the night; aren’t kids supposed to get a lot of sleep? Even if he didn’t feel like sleeping shouldn’t he be loopy on painkillers?

“Eren? What are you doing out of your room? You need to lay back down, you could open your stitches.” I heard a nurse trying to calm Eren. By that time I was already out of sight for both of them. I leaned up against the wall and let out a breath I didn’t know I was holding in. That was, problematic. 

(Eren’s POV) 

“Now try and get some sleep Eren.” The nurse that forced me back into my room said. 

“Of course.” I said nicely and smiled. All I have to do is wait until none of them are around then I can leave and find Levi. What is he doing here? I really hope there isn’t something here that might hurt someone. If there is I need to know about it and help Levi every way possible. 

It took almost ten minutes for me to be able to get out of my room. Now I am really happy I was able to get my IV out earlier today. I just hope I can catch up to Levi; wherever he may be. I turned down another dark hallway. Almost everything was dark and the only light was coming from the windows and a single room with the door left ajar. Slowly, I approached it and looked inside the room. It looked like a normal office; a plant in the corner for decoration and a desk in the middle of it. the computer screen was lit up and someone was sitting at the desk looking at the computer intensely. For a few seconds I couldn’t make out the face of the person behind the screen, but they quickly looked to the doorway and it became evident who it was.

“Levi! What are you doing here?” I asked while entering the room. “And even more importantly what are you doing on that computer?” He muttered something under his breath before looking at me again with a bored expression. Our eyes locked; the screen reflected off of Levi’s icey eyes which would have intimidated anyone else; however, I knew that he wasn’t going to hurt me. 

“Why does it matter to you?” He answers coldly. “It’s two in the morning, you should be sleeping.” I started to get discouraged by his response. there is no way I am going to get him to tell me, so I ran up behind the desk and looked at the screen. He was looking at my medical records. 

“Are you stalking me now?” I asked him, surprised. What possibly could have made him do this?

“I wanted to see how severe your wounds were from before. You were bleeding really bad, but they mustn’t have been too bad if you can run around the hospital at night. The staff are probably looking for you now.” He said before logging out of the computer and turning it off. “You should get back to your room. I don’t need anymore trouble getting out of here.” I was speechless. Does he really care about me that much? Or was there another reason for his search? Instead of making him stay and tell me exactly what he was doing I let him leave. I am tired and just want my life to go back to normal. 

(Levi’s POV)

I had almost made it out of the building when a staff member spotted me. She looked nervous.

“Sir, have you seen a teenager walking around the hospital? He’s my patient and I need to find him quick; before he hurts himself.”

“Yeah.” I pointed her in the direction of the room I last saw Eren. She quickly walked that direction. I let out a sigh of relief. Maybe it was a good thing that Eren followed me.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Levi and Hanji, mainly Levi, get dragged into a job to help save Krista.

(Levi’s POV)

I made it back to the hotel and flopped on the bed. Hopefully now I can get some sleep. In the report the doctor said that nothing serious was hit in Eren’s chest, and he should completely recover in a few weeks. Now I can sleep in peace.

“Hey Levi, where were you?” Hanji asked. Why can’t she be asleep? It’s still only three in the morning.

“I just went for a walk.” I lied plainly; not wanting to keep the conversation going.

“In the middle of the night?”

“Yeah, got a problem with that?” I gave Hanji a look, which made her stop bothering me, so I could finally get some sleep.

(Eren’s POV)

“Eren? Hello? Eren? You really need to get back to your room.” Someone was calling for me. Instead of letting them find me I was going to try and make it back to my room without anyone finding me. Just to see if I could do that. “Eren, I see you.” They said, and I froze in my place. “Ah, there you are.” Said the person that rounded the corner to find me. “I was just joking when I said I saw you, but it’s good to know it got you to stop.”

“So you tricked me?” I asked them; surprised by the cleverness. 

“Haha yeah, sorry if that seems mean, but I really needed to find you before I lost my job.” We both let out a laugh. The first rush of air out of my lungs caused a sharp pain in my chest. I looked down to see that my shirt had blood on it. “Oh no, let’s get you back to your room. If you keep moving like that you stitches are going to keep tearing.” 

Once we made it back to the room I could see the features of the nurse that found me. She was a small strawberry blonde woman. I found out her name’s Petra, as she told me, and it happened to be on her name tag. After she cleaned up my stitches she left me alone to go to sleep. I didn’t want to go to sleep yet. Images of my friends started racing through my head, and all of the events of the past day. How am I supposed to get back to my normal life after what happened?

~ ~ ~

(Levi’s POV)

Even after my sleepless night I got up early to pack up and leave; while Hanji checked us out. It was taking her longer than normal so I went to go and find her. The first place I went to check was the lobby of the hotel, but she isn’t there. 

“Damn it, where did she wander off to now.” I thought outloud. After I checked inside the building, I started looking for her around the outside. Once I got to the back of the hotel; which looked like a dump, I finally found Hanji. She was talking to a tall blond man. The thing that I recognized right away was his giant eyebrows. Erwin. What the hell is he doing here? Now I know why Hanji didn’t tell me anything. The last time I saw Erwin we parted on bad terms. ‘You can’t hold it against him. He made a mistake.’ Hanji kept on telling me, but watch me. His mistake almost got me killed, and that is not something I can easily forgive.

“Levi! It’s good to see you again.” Erwin said as he started walking towards me. I made no move towards or away from him. His arms were outstretched for a hug. He’s not stupid enough to actually do that, is he? I looked to Hanji. She had a wide grin spread across her face. I felt muscular arms wrap around me and lift me off of the ground. 

“Damn it Erwin! Put me down!” I hissed. It took him too long to comply with my demand and I was about to punch him when he finally dropped me. I landed on my back. Now my clothes are going to be filthy.

“Huh, I was always told cats landed on their feet.” Hanji said, before giggling at her idiotic joke. I don’t know what made her alway compare me to a cat, but she always did. I got up and brushed the dirt off of my clothes. 

“What the hell are you doing here?” I directed toward Erwin. The last I heard he was supposed to be doing a job in Florida. 

“I was heading down to Florida, but then I got a call from Ymir. Krista seems to have gone missing. I’d like your help, if you aren’t busy.” He looked to Hanji for the answer. He already knew what my answer is going to be, and the only hope he would have to drag me along is Hanji. I gave her a glare.

“Levi, we need to do this for Krista.” She gave me a begging look. 

“What exactly happened to Krista?” I asked Erwin. 

“She was on a job; by herself,” Erwin paused and shook his head in disappointment. Krista always rejected help from others; even when she needed it. “and went missing. That’s all I know.” 

“What was the job?” I asked. Already giving up on not going. 

“Why don’t I tell you when we get there?” Erwin said before heading to the parking lot. 

“You owe me.” I told Hanji before we got into the car to follow Erwin. To wherever it is we’re going.

~ ~ ~

“Here we are.” Erwin said happily. ’Here’ was a tiny town in Washington. I think the name is Deep River, or something like that. “And about the job Krista was doing. It’s just your ordinary haunted house kind of case, or at least it was supposed to be. Obviously something out of the ordinary happened though.”

“What’s this haunted house?” I asked, planning to get this conversation wrapped up. 

“An old abandoned house on the outskirts of town. Of course teenagers love going into the supposed haunted house for a good scare, but a lot of them never end up leaving the house, alive at least. The reports of the few people that did make it out point to a girl with short red hair.” 

“What about information on Kritsa? We are here to save her ass.” I asked Erwin.

“Last time Ymir got a call from her she knew everything she needed to and was going to take care of it that night, but she hasn’t called after that, nor has she made it back.” Erwin said before entering the hotel we were standing outside of. It was the one that Krista had been staying in. When we entered the building the person standing behind the desk seemed to be caught off guard. It was a light haired woman with strands of white in her hair and faint wrinkles around her eyes. 

“Would you be getting a room for the night?” She asked us after putting her book down. The cover over the book said To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, but the book under it didn’t match the cover.

“Actually we are here because a friend of ours was staying here; we haven’t seen her in a while and are trying to find her. Did anyone under the name Sheila Rodgers stay in a room here?” Hanji ask politely. Krista always used the fake name Sheila Rodgers, so if she stayed here that would be the name she would be under.

“Let me check.” The lady behind the desk said and started looking through her records. While she moved away from the book I was able to get a good look at what she was reading. Fifty Shades of Grey, I rolled my eyes and started inspecting the lobby. There was a few pictures around the room; most of them are paintings, but one is an old picture of a couple in front of an old style house.

“Oh of course, Sheila has been staying here for almost a week now. She’s just the sweetest thing. In fact she just got back a few hours ago.” The woman behind the desk said in a now cheerful tone. Krista is here? Then why wasn’t she calling Ymir? I shared a concerned look with Erwin and Hanji. Something really isn’t right here. “She’s in room 23 if you want to see her.” 

“Thank you for the help.” Hanji told the woman before walking down the hallway towards Krista’s room.


End file.
